[Anonymous]

I know it’s been asked before (and I’ve read the answers so far given thanks to that lovely search function), but I’m going to be the umpteenth person to ask to see if anyone else has given this method a try recently. Has anyone had a fairly successful experience focusing most heavily on JUST the NINJA Notes and Wiley Test Bank?

I purchased the Roger CPA Review course and have so far just been using the 6-month study plan for that. I’m 20% of the way through the material for my first exam, which is BEC, and I am having a pretty difficult time retaining the information. I’m following exactly what Roger says to do, which is watching the lecture for each section in full, then reading the section in full, then doing the MCQs at the end of the section and reading both the correct and incorrect answer solutions. As far as other materials available to me, I also have purchased the Wiley Books and Focus Notes, the Wiley Test Bank, and the NINJA Notes (plus I have the free NINJA audio and flashcards that are available downloaded).

Unfortunately for me, I’m the definition of a sprint study-er rather than a marathon study-er, so to learn and retain I usually have to go over ALL of the material at one time and then keep repeating that to retain what I’ve learned. That facet of my learning personality isn’t going to be very helpful in this case, but doing just that got me a 4.0 in my MS in Accounting, so I didn’t stress over it all that much. But now that I’m trying to successfully retain loads and loads of information for this exam, I’m a nervous wreck.

That being said, does anyone think that going over the NINJA Notes again and again (as in in their entirety for each exam section that I’m doing at least once daily 4-5 days a week after writing them out once), listening to the NINJA audios in the car during my 2-hour commute every day, and doing non-stop MCQs and Sims in the WTB 4-5 days a week for at least 2-3 hours a day and jotting down tidbits from those questions may be enough preparation to pass each exam section? If I follow this method, I’ll also likely go over the Wiley Focus Notes at least once or twice a week just to reinforce the concepts with different wording. For the Cost Accounting section of BEC, I do plan on watching the lectures in full and I know that for FAR I’ll need to do that as well for the Governmental & Not-For-Profit section, but I tend to remember little tidbits of information really well compared to full lectures and book chapters, so once I go over a set of smaller notes, a MCQ or a Sim and understand the concept behind them, I’ll probably remember them for a good while. This method will also allow me to get through every MCQ and Sim in the WTB for each section at LEAST 2-3 times (I’m hoping).

I guess the only way to really see if this method will work for me is to employ it and then see how well BEC goes on 02/17, but I have REG scheduled shortly thereafter on 04/08 because that’s the date that the exam fell on in my Roger 6-month study planner. I have AUD and FAR already scheduled, as well, but those ones I can always move if needed since I’ll know by the time I begin studying for those which method is working the best for me.

So, now that my rambling is over, here is my question in summary:

NINJA Notes + free NINJA Audio + Full WTB + Wiley Focus Notes: Has anyone used this particular method or something similar and passed their exam sections successfully? Was there any particular combination or order of these that you used in doing so? I feel like I NEED to do a full review course, hence the purchase of Roger, but I think that’s because it’s expected that a review course is needed in order to pass. But fully completing a review course and not retaining the information is definitely not something I want to do either, especially if garnering relevant information from the notes, audio, and questions is enough.

Any and all advice for my situation and particularly from other sprint study-ers like myself would be immensely appreciated! Studying for BEC so far has really gotten me down because I’m so focused on doing what I’m “supposed” to be doing that I feel like I’m wasting valuable time that could be spent doing MCQs and Sims instead.

[Thirteenth]

Wait u have exam on the 17th but u only at 20%? I think u need more time girlfriend! But who knows, i never had 4.0 gpa so i have no idea how fast u can retain all the information. Ninja notes and WTB sounds like a enough materials but read some of wileybook as you go since u already have it. It's helpful to understand difficult materials. Ninja notes are amazing, but it's concentrated materials. I suggest u read the book at least once and use the Ninja to wrap it up.

AUD 7/3/12 82
REG 5/30/13 79
BEC 8/29/13 78
FAR 2/28/14 79

Becker 2013 + Ninja
Done.

[Thirteenth]

Wait u have exam on the 17th but u only at 20%? I think u need more time girlfriend! But who knows, i never had 4.0 gpa so i have no idea how fast u can retain all the information. Ninja notes and WTB sounds like a enough materials but read some of wileybook as you go since u already have it. It's helpful to understand difficult materials. Ninja notes are amazing, but it's concentrated materials. I suggest u read the book at least once and use the Ninja to wrap it up.

AUD 7/3/12 82
REG 5/30/13 79
BEC 8/29/13 78
FAR 2/28/14 79

Becker 2013 + Ninja
Done.

[Author]

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